Safety attachment for air-brake systems.



E. ARRINGTON.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR AIR BRAKE SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 28.19l5- LQ32A75 Patented July 10, 1917..

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

E. ARRINGTON.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR AIR BRAKE SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 28,1915- 1,232,475. Patented July 10, 1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

JMW

FTQE.

EUGENE ARRINGTON, OF RIDGELEY, WEST VIRGINIA.

Application filed July 28, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE ARRINGTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ridgeley, in the county of Mineral and State of WestVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SafetyAttachments for Air-Brake Systems; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in safetyattachments for air brake systems and the principal object of theinvention is to provide a device which will avoid the necessity of tyingdown the brake when heavy grades are encountered.

Another object of the invention is to provide safety appliance whichwill materially increase the efficiency of ordinary air brakes and avoidmuchof the danger encountered 1n the use thereof through the necessityof tying down the brakes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device which willvhold the brakes applied until the pressure in the train line has beenrestored, thereby insuring the proper operation of the brake mechanismat all times.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel combination 2 and arrangement of parts which will be fully setforth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a side view of a fragment of a car showing this improvedattachment applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device showing portions thereof insection to more clearly illustrate the details of construction, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing the manual releasing means indetail.

Referring now to the drawings by characters of reference, the numeral 1designates the body of a car of the usual character mounted on the truck2. Supported beneath the body of the car is the usual brake cylinder 3carried on a suitable bracket 4 and slidable in the brake cylinder isthe piston on which the plunger rod 5 is carried. This plunger rod isprovided at its forward end with a suitable connection 6, to which thefulcrum arm 7 is pivotally mounted. This fulcrum arm has connectedthereto at suit Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18, 1917.

Serial No. 42,358.

able points the brake rods 8 and extending forwardly from the connection6 is a suitable extension 9 carrying at its extreme forward end theratchet bar 10 provided with the teeth 11. The extension9 is slidable ina suitable bracket 12 formed with the forwardly extending car 13, the.use of which will appear as the description proceeds.

Pivoted to the ear is a suitable lever 14: provided at its lower endwith the pawl 15. Thislever is formed with a slot 16 in which theconnecting pin 17 of the forward end of the piston rod 18 is slidable.This piston rod 18 is connected to a piston which is slidable in thecylinder 19 which in turn is mounted on the bracket 20, beneath the carbody.

The train pipe is designated by the numeral 21 and is provided with asuitable T- connection 22 by means of which the pipe 23 is connectedthereto, which pipe leads to the cylinder 19 of the safety appliance. Asuitable spring 2 1 is contained within the cylinder 19 of the safetyappliance and one end of said spring bears against the forward face ofthe piston, which is slidable therein, while the other end bears againstthe forward end of the cylinder, so that the spring will exert pressurein the direction opposite to the air entering the device through thepipe 23. I

In order to throw-the safety appliance out of operation manually inorder that the cars may be used in switching, a shaft 25 is supported ina suitable bracket 26 secured to the under side of the car and thisshaft is provided with a squared end 27 on which the cam 28 is mounted.This cam or extension 28 is positioned in such a way as to engage thearm 1&1 and the rotation of the cam is controlled by providing a lever29, which is secured to the opposite end of the shaft. A suitableratchet wheel 30 is mounted adjacent the lever 29 and is arranged to beengaged by the pawl 31, which is pivoted to a suitable bracket 32 and isprovided with the weight 33, which is designed to pull the pawl 31 outof engagement with the teeth on the ratchet wheel 30 hereinbeforereferred to.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that in use when the air is letfrom the train pipe, the air in the auxiliary reservoir will passthrough the triple valve into the brake cylinder, thereby forcing thepiston on the rod 5 outwardly. Simultaneously with this movement the bar9 will move the ratchet auxiliary tank may be reduced and the pressurein the brake cylinder may reduce, the pawl will hold the brake appliedas though the pressure remained the same. Upon allowing the air to againflow into the train pipe it will be seen that the pressure in the.cylinder 19 will increase thereby forcing the piston outwardly andmoving the lever 14 into such a position as to lift the pawl 15 fromengagement with the teeth 11, thereby releasin the ratchet bar 10 andpermitting the brakes to return to their off position. In event that itis desired to throw the safety appliance to an inoperative position, itwill be seen that upon lifting up on the lever 29 as indicated in thedotted lines in Fig. 1, the eccentric or cam 28 will engage the lever14:, thereby lifting the pawl so that regardless of the position of thepiston in the cylinder 19, the bar 10 will be free to move in eitherdirection.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that such changesmay be made in the combination and arrangement of parts as will fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

lVhat is claimed is '1. In a device of the class described, thecombination with an air brake system including a train pipe, a brakecylinder, a pis ton operable 1n the brake cyllnder and a piston rodconnected to the piston, of a toothed bar connected to the piston rod, apivoted pawl adapted to engage the toothed bar, a slotted arm formedintegrally with and extending at right angles from said pivoted pawl, anauxiliary pressure cylinotally and slidably connected to the arm on thepawl, a spring normally tending to move the piston into the cylinderagainst the pressure of the air in the train pipe to cause the pawl toengage the toothed bar when the pressure in the train pipe is reduced inorder to lock the piston rod of the brake piston in operative positionand manual means for releasing the pawl.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with an air brakesystem including a train pipe, a brake cylinder, a piston operable inthe brake cylinder and a piston rod connected to the piston, of atoothed bar connected to the piston rod, a pivoted pawl adapted toengage the toothed bar a slotted arm formed, integrally with andextending at right angles from said pivoted pawl, an auxiliary pressurecylinder mounted over the toothed barand in communication with the trainpipe, a piston operable in said auxiliary cylinder, a piston rodconnected to the piston and pivotally and slidably connected to the armon the pawl, a spring normally tending to move the piston into thecylinder against the pressure of the air in the train pipe to cause thepawl to engage the toothed bar when the pressure in the train pipeisreduced in order to lock the piston rod of the brake piston in operativeposition, a shaft journaled in close proximity to the arm on the pawl, acam on said shaft arranged so that when the shaft is rotated the camwill move the arm to release the pawl, a lever for rotating said shaft,a toothed wheel on the shaft and a pawl for engaging the toothed wheelto prevent the shaft from being rotated in a reverse direction.v

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EUGENE ARRING'ION.

Witnesses WV. J. I'IADRA, A. A. Amenrorrr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

